This Devastating Fever

By Sophie Cunningham,

Book cover of This Devastating Fever

Book description

Sometimes you need to go deep into the past, to make sense of the present.

Alice had not expected to spend the first twenty years of the twenty-first century writing about Leonard Woolf. When she stood on Morell Bridge watching fireworks explode from the rooftops of Melbourne at the start…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked This Devastating Fever as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a book that I loved for its ambition, cleverness, great writing, and its occasional humour.

The novel tells the story of the life of Virginia Woolf’s husband, Leonard, and at the same time relates the story of a woman called Alice during the COVID pandemic who is writing a story of the life of Leonard Woolf. The title comes from Leonard Woolf’s description of sexual love – this devastating fever – but the novel is far more than this, including major events such as the COVID epidemic, Spanish influenza, life prior to World War 1, and the threat…

Want books like This Devastating Fever?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like This Devastating Fever.

Browse books like This Devastating Fever

Book cover of Stiff
Book cover of Dinner with the Schnabels
Book cover of A Death-Struck Year

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,224

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Spanish flu, Melbourne, and fascism?

The Spanish Flu 25 books
Melbourne 23 books
Fascism 74 books